Nutritional deficiencies, frequently not recognized, may be common underlying causes of adverse clinical outcomes in nursing home residents. In this prospective non-interventional study, clinical outcomes and biochemical indices of immune, integumentary, functional, and psychobehavioral status are examined in light of nutritional status in nursing home patients. The first specific aim is to characterize malnutrition in the institutionalized elderly. The second specific aim is to develop, from preliminary information obtained, an operational definition of ""malnutrition"" to be used in a larger study to test selected nutritional interventions in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition and its clinical sequelae in nursing homes. Nutritional assessments consisting of consumption studies, anthropometric measurements, biochemistries, and body composition determination are performed. Simultaneously, selected clinical outcomes and biochemical indices of immune, integumentary, functional, and psychobehavioral status are examined in light of nutritional status at 1 (baseline), 6, and 12 months after admission to a nursing home.